Pink Slips: Do We Care How They Are Delivered?

11th June 2010

Are people hiding behind their electronic toys to deliver bad news? Dates are called off by texting; even relationships are broken off by email. Has modern technology dehumanised us? Chelsea Taylor, a teenager who worked at Lancashire Tea Room thinks so.

For the first time, a worker in Britain was terminated by the cafe’s manager, Elaine Sutton, via Facebook, a popular social networking site. It is reported that when she got back from running an errand for her co-workers, she logged on only to see that she had been sacked for losing a 10-pound note in her absence.

The poorly worded, dismissal note on Chelsea’s Facebook page said, in essence, that after reporting the teen’s actions to the owner, she was told to fire her. The teen offered to repay the money, and even went so far as to have her mother appeal to her boss, to no avail. The cafe does not wish to discuss it, nor will they provide any further information.

This may be the wave of the future. Already employees are being fired for blasting their employer’s business’s on these websites. Should posting negative statements or revealing pictures give just cause for dismissal?

It can be argued that nothing is private anymore. After all, potential employees are subject to pre-employment checks. Look for more legal issues to ensue regarding networking venues as more of this happens.

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